Decreasing for left and right knit side We learned how to increase in Lesson 5 so now we will learn how to go the opposite direction. Again there are various other ways to do this but this is the easiest. You will basically be turning two stitches on your left needle into one on your right needle.
Left slanting decrease knit side On knit side, put your yarn at the back of your work, this puts it in position to make this decrease, now insert RIGHT needle through the back loops of the next two stitches on your LEFT needle, now knit making sure to pull the loop through both the stitches. Return yarn to the front. Now that was easy and painless right?
Right slanting decrease knit side On knit side, insert RIGHT needle through the front loops of the next two stitches on your LEFT needle(**look at the stitches on your left needle, counting from the tip right to left, insert your right hook in between the 2nd and third stitches and into the FRONT loops of the 2 stitches now at your right on your left needle**),this is also known as KNITWISE because of the way you are inserting the needle just exactly like you do when knitting one stitch, now knit making sure to pull the loop through both the stitches. This one is also easy but just a little harder to explain. Basically you are just pretending the two stitches are one and knit them exactly like you would one stitch. It isn’t necessary to move your yarn as it is already in position. Are you starting to see a sort of pattern with knitting? Please make a sort of mental note about the term KNITWISE, anytime it is mentioned it means a direction, usually a pattern will say insert your hook knitwise. I highly recommend that you invest in a Vogue Knitting book because it has just about every type of increase and decrease method that you can think of. I can’t tell you how many times this book has saved me from disaster projects because even though I knit on a regular basis, I just can’t remember every little way to do things. I have also used it to change things in patterns that I just don’t like, such as darts, ribbings, and pattern stitches.
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